Land of the Lizard
: "I will save New York from the hell hole it has plunged itself into and soon the world with my formula! You cannot stop me Spider.." : ―Curt Connors The Land of the Lizard story-arc takes place in New York City on February Third, 2014. It's the first official story of Spider-Man's where he finally becomes a superhero, and the saving of Curt Connors. Background Curt Connors Head of Genetics Curt originally was a professor at ESU but was recruited early in his career to work as Head of Genetics at Oscorp after the mysterious passing of the previous, he held that position for nearly five years. Genetic Testing During early 2013, Curt took up a small project that would cure genetic diseases and such, he kept it on the low since he had been a messy scientist and several unfinished projects. However, when found out and sent to Norman Osborn. He was granted unlimited funding IF it can be finished as soon as possible, of course, he took the deal and continued the project. Becoming the Lizard Following those events, his project seemed to be going nowhere and by January it was rushed into human trails. When he disagreed and warned the company, they made him the first test-subject. Peter Parker Uncle Ben's Passing After an argument with his guardians, Peter Parker fled his home leading his Uncle, Ben Parker, to follow him. This resulted in his death to a fleeing robber, Peter witnessed his father figure's final moments and vowed to avenge him, but he didn't know how. History Backlash Repulsed and Hated Oscorp blacked all of Curt's files after the incident and his years of work at Oscorp basically disappeared, so he did also. He began to travel home hoping his wife could help him but people mocked and ridiculed him during so and he thought his wife would have the same reaction. So he hid in the sewers, even made a lab down there using stolen Oscorp equipment. Vengeance and Salvation Burly Books Skirmish At first, Curtis wanted to undo his disease and designed a cure, but during the process he began to go mad. He then abandoned the cure and began working on recreating the Lizard Formula but more powerful, he began robbing places for books and equipment that could help his project. He eventually ran into Spider-Man when he was at Burly Books Library stealing genetics books. The two skirmished inside before Lizard escaped into the night with the stolen items, which was blamed on Spidey. Mac Gargan Spidey followed after Lizard but couldn't keep up due to him having a large heads start, during the rooftop chase, he was followed by Yuri Watanabe and her taskforce and by Mac Gargan who took photos of the scene for the Daily Bugle. Recovery School problems Peter Parker continued his daily life whilst secretly researching and plotting against Lizard, run-ins with Flash Thompson did slightly effect it but didn't slow him down. Meanwhile, Curt Connors and his newfound abilities begin to dissolve and had to test his new updated Connors Formula on himself, which proved successful making him more powerful then before. NYPD Takedown Once lunchtime rolled around Peter took to the streets patrolling in his Wrestler Atire, however, he ran into some problems that involved Yuri Watanabe and her Anti-Spidey taskforce. Peter unknowingly walked into a trap and was being chased by the NYPD which made him late for class, he did escape by dodging their bullets, thanks to his Precognitive Sensing (Spider Senses) which he learned about during this, by the time he escaped he was far too late to return to school so continued his day patrolling. Chinatown Battle Peter continued his search for his Uncle Ben's killer while waiting for big crimes, he really wanted to prove himself to be a bigger more superior hero then he already was, he eventually got word of a robbery in Chinatown involving a man / creature fitting the description of the Lizard he fought at Burly Books. Yuri Watanabe also responded to the call believing Spidey would showup also due to the history between Spidey and Lizard, her theory was correct and encountered the both of them while they we're fighting on the side of a building in Chinatown. After some screams and falling rubble due to their fight, Peter kicked Lizard onto the rooftops to continue their fight out of civilians way. Yuri Watanabe used a fire escape to scale the building they we're fighting on and interrupted their fight firing a taser at Spidey, but it was dodged hitting Lizard in the upper leg. He was angered and charged towards Yuri and Spidey decided to instead of letting her die which would clear his problems, he ran up and tackled her off the building and webbed to safety across the street. Peter and Yuri witness the Lizard snarl and escape with the equipment he stole and Yuri attempted to arrest Spidey after. In result of this, Peter dodged and sidestepped to avoid him being handcuffed and tried to reason with Yuri and prove to her that he's trying to do what the police do and save lives. Executing the Plan Lizard Unveiled Peter went home after the fight and talk with Yuri, he had some banter with his Aunt May about relationships and she tried to set Peter up with their neighbor who he hadn't met before, he dismissed it saying he didn't really need any relationship at the moment. After May left him alone, Peter spent hours researching Lizard and found out his true identity, Curt Connors. Due to the conversation he had with Yuri, he decided to trust her and gave an anonymous tip on Martha and Billy Connors safety. Lead at Oscorp After learning Connors Identity, he went to Oscorp believing they would have answers, because Peter knew his father, Richard Parker, worked with Connors briefly while at Oscorp. Whilst there, he met a shady business type and threatened on exposing him unless he gave Peter all the info he had on Connors. The Businessman agreed and told him all there is to know of the incident that caused his powers and where he could be hiding. Thwarting the Lizard As the sun set and night rose, Peter traveled into the underground Manhattan subway into the sewers and spent a while commenting on the smell whilst searching for Curtis. He eventually went to a big drop off point and created a web net, he laid in the center and waiting for Lizard to alert him due to his trap. Connors however wasn't the average villain, he past the web net and used his reptiles to slowly cut his net while Connors got ontop of Peter. He then dropped onto him but Peter dodged, the fight took place on the sides of things never on the net really until Lizard seemingly beat Peter and ran off. Peter created a slingshot using his webs and flew towards the escaping Lizard only to be surprised when he grabbed a pipe and whacked him into the wall, Peter passed out instantly. Connors then grabbed his nearby equipment and made way to the Empire State Building but beforehand used the surroundings to trap Peter in-his place, using things like sewer pipes. The Lizard and his Lady Connors actually went to Queens and kidnapped his wife after a short battle with the surrounding authorities, who he turned into lizard creatures. He then escaped with his wife and traveled to the Empire State Building so she could turn into a lizard creature with him. Battle on the Empire State Building Connors set up his device on the building while News Helicopters surrounded him, meanwhile Peter awoke in the sewers and learned of his plan while being stuck in place. While he broke free he finally learned how he could avenge Uncle Ben, it was by saving the day, so he broke free and created the cure to the Connors Formula and headed towards the Empire State Building where he'd at first attempt to calm Connors. Peter's plan failed and the two began to battle infront of basically everyone in New York due to the news helicopters. Peter used his web-slinging abilities to kick Connors off the building briefly while he began to hack his devices so he could implant the cure. With every breakthrough in his attempt to hack Connors, it was also a loss due to the Lizard rapidly trying to claw Peter and get him far away from the device. He then, in a fit on anger after Lizard digged his claws deep into his leg, threw him far down the building which allowed him to finish hacking the device and implant the serum. Afterwards Spidey jumped and tackled Lizard who was attempting to fix what Peter had done, they fell almost off the building completely as the device exploded sending the cure across NYC. Connors was hanging off the side of the building as this happened. The Helicopters flew away in fear of what the explosion could mean, Peter took off his mask after and crawled to Connors and helped him up instead of letting him fall to his death. After Peter realized Connors was backed in control instead of the Lizard, they talked and Connors asked Peter to promise his family's safety. Peter however declined his offer and explained that he would be there, Spider-Man decided to take the fall for Lizard's mistakes so he could get a second-chance, the public already thought of him as a menace anyways and he thought that was the responsible, kind thing to do. Curtis then left with his wife Martha and went to start a new life in somewhere like Florida, while Spidey took the fall for his actions. Aftermath Taskmaster Viewing Party Once arriving, Masters didn't stay at any specific place. He mainly stayed to the rooftops and watched the people below and the news, he even watched the Land of the Lizard final showdown and wrote a note down about Spider-Man but labelled him not worth his time. Lizard Lives On One of Connors Lizard creatures survived through the cure, he had fled New York into the forests before it went down and wasn't hit by the cure.Category:Timeline Category:Spider-Man Stories Category:Lizard Stories Category:Events Category:Yuri Watanabe Stories Category:Norman Osborn Stories Category:Nil (Not Canon)